International student represents Namibia in the Miss Africa USA pageant

Twamanguluka Nambili ’13 can be described in many ways: international student, Namibian native and HIV/AIDS orphan. At the end of this month, she hopes to add a Miss Africa USA title to the list. On July 22-25, she will participate as one of 34 finalists – and the first-ever Namibian – in the Miss Africa USA pageant at the University of Maryland.

“I thought it would be really great to represent my country,” Nambili says.

Winning the pageant also would garner financial support for her long-term dream: to build a Namibian orphanage for children like her.

“It’s a great opportunity to do it earlier than I thought I would,” Nambili says.

Her passion for her pageant platform – HIV/AIDS awareness – helped spur her involvement. Nambili lost her mother to HIV/AIDS at age 11 and her father to the same disease two years later.

“I wish to bring awareness to this issue of HIV/AIDS and discrimination against the infected. I have realized that in order to fight this disease, one must turn to the mind [and] education,” Nambili says.

Education has taken Nambili herself far, literally and figuratively, in life. She studied in Namibia before enrolling at a school in Malaysia, where her aunt worked for the Namibian embassy. Remarkably, it was in Malaysia that Nambili first heard of St. Norbert.

“SNC comes to all the international schools in Asia,” she says. “I happened to miss their coming. My counselor, who happened to know the school, was telling me about it. He said: ‘You need to apply. They’re really good with financial aid. They help out a lot.’ ”

With that help from the college, she did more than study international business during her first year on campus. She also served as SGA freshman representative, all the while seeking support for her pageant participation.

As the pageant finals approach, that search continues. Nambili is determined to raise the funds she needs to participate – and to build an orphanage one day, regardless of the pageant’s outcome.

“Even if I don’t win, I can still do my project,” Nambili says. “I’m still going to look for sponsors who can help me.”

Nambili is one of many St. Norbert students who have immersed themselves in another country and culture while studying abroad. To read the stories of others like her, check out the Summer 2010 issue of St. Norbert College Magazine.